1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital still camera using a touch panel as an input means, and touch panel tracing operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional digital still camera, buttons provided at the rear or the top of a camera body are used for setting the flash, zooming in and out, advancing pictures when replaying, and magnifying/reducing pictures. However, when demands for compactness and multiplex functions of a camera increase, it is difficult to realize these demands at the same time. To realize the demand for multiplex functions, it is necessary to provide many buttons or make the nest of operation menus deep. Contrarily, to realize the demand for compactness, it is necessary to decrease the number of buttons and make the operation menu nest more deep.
However, the increased number of buttons is disadvantageous for compactness, and the deeper operation menu nest lowers the operability. Thus, a digital still camera which uses a touch panel as an input means instead of increasing the number of mechanical buttons has developed. A touch panel has a touch detection function, and is provided on the front of an LCD at the rear of a camera. A touch panel functions to display a menu on the LCD and execute the operation corresponding to the touched menu item.
However, the above-mentioned touch panel merely has the function of a button, the menu nest depth when using the multiplex functions feature is almost the same as the depth when using buttons, and it is difficult to expect an improvement in operability.